I haven’t had to return anything because everything’s been first class so far with the following exception.
I had one item that arrived defective but instead of returning it, they just sent me a new one. They have answered my e-mails in a timely fashion so in my experience, they are great so far!
If FT were not recommended, would they get recommended today?
I just looked over the Pros.
Wall shots and beam slices demo beam pattern and tint very realistically
Tint, have often been way off.. I have seen WW looking cooler than NW in the past. Have not checked much lately.. Their wallshots are way better than average though.
Requesting new products works rather well
"Rather well" is gone.. Based on my experience and what I have read from others who have requested various products for months FT are no better than average it seems. I would say worse than some stores.. If it should be a Pro, it should be working quite well IMO. Not giving people false hope that they will get the products they want or that other stores sells. I don't bother doing requests to them anymore.. They are too slow..
Supports fight against questionable or poor quality products
I think a lot of people will disagree, me included.... They were much more active and better at this in the "early days"..
The "Vely" is gone... FT are not really active here anymore.. There seems to be more reports from unhappy customers having issues with slow response times, faults with items received, bad customer service etc than any other store these days..
Is that even a Pro? 20 names could be listed.. As long as customer service across the line is not great, Im not sure why this is a Pro...
On top of all these, there have been raised several issues by people lately around the forum..
In comparison, a store like intl-outdoor was recommended, lost the recommended status due to a "safety issue" with user accounts passwords/addresses (6 months ago?) that they fixed right away.. One strike and they were down.... Still the same good customer service it seems, product description and everything.. Seems to be on the top of their game getting good products for the flashlight community. Not many complaints at ell, etc etc.. They are not recommended but FT is? Does not make sense to me....
It seems FT started going downwards several months ago.. Hope of more and well trained staff were talked about, in order to get back to their "glory days".. But its just gone downhill ever since..
I think FT deserved the recommended status when they got it. But if a store should be "recommended" then they better live up to it so that they can be a good example for others..
I think FT is OK. Ill continue shopping from them... But maybe its time for a re-evaluation.
Ill raise the question again. If FT were not recommended, would they get recommended today?
Good points, RaceR86. I edited the first post (which was originally not created by me), and FastTech.com is no longer recommended. That being said, I still think it’s one of the better options among the Chinese sellers, but not good enough to be listed as recommended.
Everything was great with fastech up until the last two purchases. I'm still waiting on an order that was shipped September 11th, and an order I paid for a week ago which was supposed to be in stock, which wasn't. Not a FASTTECH happy customer at the present time. Not recommended....
Just see how many stores who does not have the recommended label here. The standards for being recommended are quite high, which is why only a few stores are.
Its not a bad thing not being recommended. But when a store is recommended it better be a good "role model" to every other store.
Currently I don't think FT is that much of a role model in comparison to the average store, or a good benchmark of a great store. I will still continue to buy from them. But I would like to see them improve and get back to what they used to be. Which used to be a good example of how a recommended store should be.
I agree. They’re definitely not what they use to be, even a month ago, and while I use to have no hesitation ordering from them, it’s now just the opposite.
I’ve cut way down on my orders from them, and basically only placed a couple of orders to “test the waters” the last week or so. I currently won’t order anything from them that I really care to get in a reasonable time, and, actually, am mainly sticking mostly to U.S. based places only (including U.S. based Ebay sellers) for now.
i haven't placed any orders lately with any dealer, there's too much FREE review samples flying in, no need to spend money anymore. so i wouldn't know if FT is still recommended today. i think nowadays more people buy from Aurabuy, Banggood or Wallbuys.
on the other hand i once got the Sunbayman Sirius 11R from them for a song, some 50€'s or so and for that alone they will always be RECOMMENDED STORE from my part. RECOMMENDED for lifetime!!!
I’ve used FastTech for four months and in that time I’ve placed 24 orders. All but one have been delivered in a timely manner, given the terrible situation that the postal system has placed them in. There are 3 outstanding and I’m placing more every couple of days.
All this trouble is through no fault of their own. It is out of their control.
The export post has just about gone into meltdown, FastTech can do very little about it, and what they can do, you can bet they are doing.
I’ve been ordering stuff from FT since January this year. Total orders to date: around 20.
So far, all my orders have been shipped quickly, and I have not had to send anything back because it’s defective/wrong item etc. etc.
They get an APPROVED rating from me
@8steve88: Good point about the postal system. You’re right that there are a lot of factors out of control. For the cons, I tried to mention points that are entirely within FastTech’s control, such as the time it takes them to get a package OUT to the shipping system, turnaround time.